Semper Fidelis They Came By The Sea

[Kimmo]

Cheers Harry!

More progress today. The padding has been done and the mail and helmets are well under way. I based the mail and helmets with Metal Color Gunmetal Grey with a touch of Sombre Grey for the mail and a touch of Pale Blue Grey for the helmets to lighten the colour up a bit and get a slight blue tinge. I then dry brushed with Natural Steel, and then a very thin wash of Camo Black Brown with a bit of black. The brown gives a nice patina and takes the edge off a straight black wash. I went back and added more black to the wash and added some shading to the mail. I decided I'll go with brass for the nose plates for variety and based those with metal Color Gold. If you are looking for acrylic metallics, look no further than Vallejo's Metal Color, the stuff is fantastic.

















Looks like I missed a sleeve...anyways, more dry brushing is in store to really bring out the detail and the helmets will get the business to make them appear a little shinier. The mail looks particularly nice as do the helmets.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

More progress, I painted up the heads and got them attached, and also made a good start on the leather bits. I wanted the heads on so I could get an idea of the overall effect and see if the contrast was in line with the bodies. The helmets were done up with a mix of Metal Color and regular metallics, dry brushing, washes and bog standard highlighting. My philosophy with metal is that a minimum of four layers is good enough for basic stuff (base, highlight/edge, tarnish, shadow wash), umpteen layers are gooder when you want something spectacular. It's basically repeating the last three steps of the process over and over to build up depth.














I need to decide if the pointing chap has a mustache or not, his upper lip is a little pronounced and I'm of two minds whether this is just due to him saying something or if there is a stache...

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Been away from the bench dealing with the ill effects of a double tooth pull for about a week, finally got some more work done on the cliff and leather bits. Here's the first test sit:



The flag bearer has his legs tacked on and when I tried to get another shot, he slumped over and I thought better of tempting fate any further. I'm happy with how things are coming together, and will turn my attention to getting the grass and dirt on the back end of the base.


Kimmo

 

[Tecumsea]

Hi kimmo, been fun watching you put this together and the painting is coming along nicely. My only criticism if l may is that the base seems to overwhelm the two figures. It may be the camera angle or just something to consider when tackling this sort of project in future.

Regardless it will look very nice when finished.

Keith

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Keith! Criticism is always welcome when it's constructive, and you do have a point. I was a little unhappy with how underwhelming the supplied base was, nice enough but not what I wanted. I was looking to convey more height without going overboard and made a bit of a compromise. I think the shot angle and the fact that everything is just a large dark grey blob (tonally) is making things feel a bit out of whack for the moment. When I add the greenery and paint the sides black, we should get more contrast/interest and that should bring things into better visual balance.

Kimmo

 

[Tecumsea]

Look forward to seeing the finished product Kimmo, I've got this set and noticed one or two painted versions have been appearing at shows recently. It's a pity SF are a bit inconsistent in their supply and seem to have upset one or two people with slow responses to mails. My own experience has been very good. I had a duplicate arm in my kit which meant the proper one was missing. After mailing the problem a complete replacement set arrived in the post, you can't really do better than that. I hope he manages to keep the business going as he has some nice ideas for subjects.

Keith

 

[Babelfish]

Coming along very nicely Kimmo. I'm still not convinced that the heads are in proper scale, although that's no reflection on your work.

I agree with Keith's comments about SF's customer service, his QC seems a bit haphazard (I also had a figure with a missing arm) but in my experience such issues are dealt with very promptly. As far as I know he's a one-man band, so maybe sometimes his (undeniable) enthusiasm gets the better of him and he ends up biting off a bit more than he can chew. Hence kits rushed out without proper checks, and release dates delayed.

- Steve

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Keith and Steve! This set did seem to take forever in getting sent, and I wasn't unduly concerned as I also got the impression that it is indeed a one man show. Sometimes things take longer than we'd like but I'm always willing to cut some slack (within reason) with smaller operations as long as you get what you paid for.

Now, onto the big bugaboo about proportions and/or sizing. I finally got the legs glued onto the flag bearer and took a shot from the front trying to get as perpendicular to the figure as possible to eliminate any perspective distortion. The forward foot throws us a bit of a loop so I went with the back heel as our base. This is not the most rigorously scientific result, but should serve as a good indicator as to what's going on. My methodology is based on what I learned in life drawing classes many moons ago: a human is eight heads tall, that is from top of the skull to the bottom of the heel. Further, a male should be two head heights wide at the shoulders, and two head widths wide at the hips.





And a crop of the head





Figuring out the size of the head is a bit tricky because of the helmet and mail, but I think this is close enough for government work.


As you can see, following my methodology, the proportions are pretty good. So what's causing the undersized appearance? My opinion is that the cloak and cape are a bit too bulky giving our chaps the appearance of having shoulder pads. As mentioned earlier in the thread, the helmets may also be too small. If we combine these, we do get a slightly undersized appearance as far as the heads are concerned.

And there we have it, thoughts and opinions are most welcome.

Kimmo

 

[Redcap]

Hi Kimmo.

Really glad to see that you have completed this and I think it looks great. We shall agree to disagree on the heads issue (as per initial comparisons and I know which sculptors I would trust to get the scale right from those offered in the comparison list) and ultimately if you found it enjoyable that that is what the hobby is all about.

I look forward to seeing the added base work you mentioned to bring it all together.

Gary

 

[Kimmo]

No worries Gary, ultimately everything does boil down to what one likes, or what the customer likes as the case may be. As I said, anatomically, I can't find fault using the methodology I was taught, but the capes and cloaks I think do alter the appearance of the proportions.

Getting back to the project proper, I've added the groundwork and greenery. I used several shades and lengths of static grass, some scatter and MP leafy bush/tree/vine stuff, I forget what they actually call it, but lovely stuff. One of these days I'll get a static grass applicator to get better looking grass, I just sprinkled the grass using a tea sifter and mucked about with a soft brush to get the strands to stick up a bit. If I had a greener grass, I would have used that instead to get some more vibrancy, need to make an another order. The groundwork is textured paste, and the dust is pigment, I'll need to do some dusting on the shrubbery and maybe add some more washes to the rock. The black sides have really made the cliff stand out and frames the base nicely.














And a few more with our chaps tacked in place.












Slowly getting there, just waiting on the decals which should be on their way shortly. In the meantime I'll do some consolidating/touch ups and maybe some flowery bits to add colour.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Starting to feel like the base is done. Added a few touches and flowers.
















Just waiting for decals to arrive so I can complete the figures, hopefully early next week.

Kimmo

 

[davidmitchell]

Hi Kimmo looking forward to the finish. I am also working on this just now. I think the figures look spot on scale wise.

Cheers David

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers David!

Kimmo

 

[arj]

Very neat and colourful work Kimmo.
It's a very nice set and, like David, I also thought the figures looked fine when I did mine.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Andrew! I'm hoping to get things wrapped up this week, I finally got the decals I've been waiting for.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

A week has turned into a month...finally got back to finishing this project off. Applying the decals to the flag was a bit of a dicey do. As mentioned, the film is ultra thin so great care is needed as you won't get much of a chance to re-position it if you mess up. The folds and creases made this interesting, to say the least. The shields were easier by far, but not exactly stress free. I also ended up making a new pointy end for the flag. The kit supplied pointy end is fine, however it snapped and I couldn't find a way to drill and pin it. Mine is a little fancier and more majestic and needs to be dulled down a wee bit.












After sealing and flat coating, I added slight shading and highlights to the Lions, this helps to hide the slight dot matrix and makes the decal look less like a decal. Someone pointed out I could have painted the lions, but I value what's left of my sanity. Yellow is not fun to paint, and the flag would have been an undertaking I 'd much rather not contemplate. I'm happy enough with how things look, now to get the final touches done.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Calling this one done. I had to add a couple of cork shims under our pointing fellow to fill some gaps, other than that, everything glued in place nicely. I need to take some "studio" shots, otherwise, time to call it a day. Here's some photos to tide you over with until the gallery is up.























Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

A gallery is now up : https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/they-came-by-the-sea.163343/

A teaser




This was a fun project, learned a few things about working with bark, and got to try some different techniques. Thanks to everyone who commented and followed along.

Kimmo

 

[Jed]

Kimmo, I've enjoyed catching up and watching this, especially as I shy away from bases!! The results you have achieved are very impressive

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Jed! I used to stay away from them as well because I wasn't happy with how my efforts looked and I'm perpetually working with a tight budget so commercially produced stuff is normally not an option. I like to show what can be done with a bit of imagination and scrounging around. As is usually the case, a little practice and patience goes a long way.

Kimmo